We bring you a different sort of offering this time - Irish traditional music, mixed with a few newer compositions in traditional forms, by others and by us. Our interpretations feature the tones and textures of our instruments in various conversations and combinations. Making the album turned out to be a wonderful journey of discovery, balancing personal blends of melodic exposition and harmonic frameworks, while hoping always to honor the tradition. Our project also includes a few songs - a traditional ballad, a new ballad based on a true and tragic story by a contemporary Canadian songwriter, and a Khalil Gibran poem that we set to music. We hope you enjoy it. Bruce and Marla Track notes: All titles traditional except where noted. All tracks arranged by Bruce Victor & Marla Fibish, Noctambule Music © 2017 Noctambule Music All rights reserved 1. Paddy Canny’s Toast (C. Lennon) / The Tempest We open with a slow reel composed by the great Charlie Lennon from Co. Leitrim. We love the way the tune moves quietly between dark and light. And then in blows The Tempest. Mandolin and 6 string guitar 2. Jigs~ Bold Doherty / Bill Harte’s Jig OK, now you know. Behind closed doors, we have much fun messing about with juxtaposing different genres of music, just to see what might ensue. Bruce brings a broad palette of musical influences to Marla’s propensity for diddle-dee-dee. To our delighted surprise, these two traditional jigs provided an inviting refuge for our mischievous mash-up. We are still scratching our heads and smiling... Mandolin and 6 string guitar 3. The Creel / The Sweetheart Reel A not-so-innocent start kicks off an implausible series of events - when else but on a moonlit night? A young couple tries to take their romance indoors, as it were, into the young maiden’s home, where her unsuspecting father and suspicious mother sleep downstairs. Oddly, our heroine knows that her suitor will need a 33-foot ladder to access her bed via the chimney. We toss The Sweetheart Reel in the middle of the whole debacle. The Creel is a version of Ballad #281 from the 305 ballads collected and published in the late 19th century by Francis James Child. Marla learned it from the singing of the great Paul Brady. Mandola and cittern 4. Trip to Skye (J. Whelan / BMI) / The Good Doctor (M. Fibish) We became quite enamored of this lyrical waltz by our good friend, John Whelan. John’s kindness even extends to his forbearance of our reversing the sequence of the parts of the tune. The Good Doctor started off as an exploration of musical phrases that turn a corner to deliver one to a different key in each successive part; ultimately, it revealed itself as a tune. Named for the doctor in the house. Mandolin, mandola and 12 string guitar 5. Blind Mary (O’Carolan) / Cold Missouri Waters (J. Keelaghan) O’Carolan’s Blind Mary provides a lyrical introduction to James Keelaghan’s elegy for the thirteen firefighters who perished in the Mann Gulch Fire of 1949 -- and for their crew chief who recounts the tragic story from his deathbed five years later. Mandolin, 6 string and tenor guitars 6. The Cloone / March Reel (Fibish) / The Abbey Reel We enjoyed exploring the gentle sweetness of The Cloone, also known as The Humours of Toomagh. March Reel is a bit of whimsy - so named as it feels somewhere between a march and a reel, and it came to be in the month of March. We ventured a more contemplative take on the usually exuberant Abbey Reel. Mandolin, 6 and 12 string guitars 7. Mister O’Connor (O’Carolan) / The Broken Pledge O’Carolan’s compositions reveal his Irish sensibilities immersed, to varying degrees, within the Baroque framework of his time. This is one of his more baroque compositions, and we reveled in that a bit in our rendition of it. The Broken Pledge follows, its relative modal spareness confers nobility to an ignoble deed. Mandolin, mandola and cittern 8. Song of the Wave (Poetry: Khalil Gibran / Music: Fibish & Victor) We set to music this sumptuous love poem by Khalil Gibran. The Wave sings tenderly to her beloved Shore. Their opposing yet complementary natures “blend in melted brilliance.” 12-string and tenor guitars, mandolin and mandola 9. A Sweetish Tune (Fibish & Victor) “A schmoozy little waltz.” -Olof Söderbäck This tune emerged sounding somehow Swedish to our four ears. Regrettably, not a one of those four is trained in Swedish music. In floundering about for a title, we were at least confident that it was kind of sweet. Hence... Thank you Aryeh Frankfurter for adding the nyckelharpa for just that perfect little bit of “Swedener!” Tenor and 6 string guitars, cittern and nyckelharpa >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marla plays... 1922 Gibson A mandolin 1914 Gibson H1 mandola 1930 Martin O-17T Tenor Guitar Bruce plays… Fylde Cittern Fylde Orsino 6 string guitar Fylde Magician 6 string guitar Perlman 16-fret 12 string guitar Special guest Aryeh Frankfurter plays nyckelharpa on A Sweetish Tune >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Production: Produced by Marla Fibish & Bruce Victor Recorded in our home by Marla Mixed and Mastered by Gary Mankin, Knob & Tube, San Francisco Photos by Lindsey Rallo www.lindseyrallo.com Graphic Design by Lindsey Rallo & Sam Pelgrift